The Opponents: After Tragedy, W&M Looks Toward Football Season

HARRISONBURG — There was nothing normal about the circumstance Mike London dealt with in his first spring as coach at William & Mary.

This challenge was bigger than the ones that brought him back to Williamsburg.

“It has nothing to do with football,” London said. “But I do believe it’s something that’s gotten us closer as a team as we will remember Nate [Evans] in everything that we do.”

This past March, former Tribe running back Nate Evans was murdered and the aftermath left London worrying more about the well-being of the players he was just starting to get to know instead of the schemes, plays and philosophies he needs them to know.

“Nate was a great young man, and it was hard for his teammates,” London said. “It’s still tough, but I would say this, the health and mental wellness sometimes of football guys or of we as men is something that we don’t like to talk about that much, but William & Mary did a great job of being there for our players with grief counselors and allowing them to express their feelings. A lot of them were talking about things that might have been suppressed in their own lives, so we got closer as a team and also understand the game is a tough, physical game, but a game that requires a level-headed and mental awareness in approach.”

Because of Evans’ death, William & Mary didn’t get all 15 spring practices in, so London and the Tribe will have work to do in training camp ahead of their season opener on Aug. 31 at home against Lafayette.

London, a Hampton native, left the same job at Howard University to take the reins for former longtime W&M headman Jimmye Laycock, who retired after 39 years at the helm following this past season. London said he wanted to return to the Commonwealth and was eager to do so at the place where Laycock gave him his first full-time assistant coaching job.

“There’s nothing like being closer to home,” said London, a coach who has spent much of his career succeeding in the state.

He led Richmond, his alma mater, to a national title in 2008, and had a six-year stint in charge at Virginia, but to win at William & Mary, there are hurdles.

Last year, the team went 4-6 overall and 3-4 in Colonial Athletic Association play, and the program hasn’t had a winning season since 2015. Rival James Madison outscored the Tribe 97-14 in two games over the last two seasons.

The Dukes travel to Zable Stadium on Oct. 19 this year.

“One of the things we need to do is be more productive on offense in terms of scoring points,” London said.

William & Mary’s 13.6 points per game last year ranked 121st nationally and was the worst in the CAA. In 2017, its 15 points per game was last in the CAA and 112th nationally.

The primary problem – and London has already taken steps to address the issue – for the spiraling unit was that Laycock couldn’t find a quarterback. Five different quarterbacks – Ted Hefter, Shon Mitchell, Dean Rotger, Tommy McKee and Brandon Battle – started games for W&M over the past two seasons.

Hefter, Mitchell, Rotger and Battle are still on the roster, but London landed Coastal Carolina transfer quarterback Kilton Anderson, who began his career at Fresno State, to bolster the position. Anderson threw for 1,010 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for 251 yards and a score last year for the Chanticleers.

“You don’t bring in guys for the sake of sitting around,” London said. “… And we’re always trying to do things that make the team better. We benefited from the transfer portal.”

Anderson isn’t the only newcomer to the room. Incoming freshman Hollis Mathis will have a chance to compete, and those two are part of a larger group London said must mesh well with the players he inherited from Laycock. Between W&M’s signing class and the transfers London is bringing in, the coach said the 2019 version of the Tribe is going feature about 30 first-year members of the team in total.

Another he said he’s excited about is incoming freshman running back Donavyn Lester, a John Paul II (Plano, Texas) product who finished his high school career with 2,500 rushing yards and 75 rushing touchdowns.

Between Anderson, Lester and senior running back Albert Funderburke, who impressed London during the spring, as well as the up-tempo style of offense that London’s staff is installing, the unit should be improved even though jobs at other positions have to be solidified.

As bad of shape as the offense has been in the past few season, London doesn’t have to fix the defense.

The Tribe return All-CAA second-team defensive lineman Bill Murray and third-team safety Corey Parker as well as veteran linebackers Arman Jones, Nate Atkins and Alex Purviance while also adding Virginia Tech transfer defensive lineman Darius Fullwood to the squad.

“They had a great spring with a lot of turnovers and a lot of negative plays because of the style we play,” London said.

Out of the defensive tackle spot, Murray had 48 tackles to go along with 9.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks last year. Atkins led the team in tackles with 65.

London said he thinks the defense is capable of making the jump to be one of better units in the CAA. A year ago, W&M gave up 26.2 points per game.

In addition to Lafayette, the Tribe will play host to Colgate, at Virginia and at East Carolina, where they’ll see former JMU coach Mike Houston, in non-conference action before opening the CAA slate at Albany.

“The mindset we want to recruit is that we want to win, we want to win games now and we want to compete for championships,” London said. “… So we’re looking to win, win early, be competitive and I wouldn’t say anything different because of the guys we have and the kind of guys we recruited, but we’re excited about the season.”